1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a probe wafer, a probe apparatus, and a test system.
2. Related Art
In a test of a semiconductor chip, an apparatus for testing acceptability of each of semiconductor chips in the state that they are formed on a semiconductor wafer is known (e.g., by Patent Document No. 1). Such an apparatus may be equipped with a probe card that can be collectively electrically connected to a plurality of semiconductor chips.
The probe card is provided between a test substrate of a test apparatus and a semiconductor wafer. Here, when the interval between the terminals of the test substrate is different from the interval between the terminals of the semiconductor wafer, the probe card should have a certain mechanism for absorbing the difference. One exemplary mechanism is to cause the interval between terminals on the front surface of the probe card to differ from the interval between terminals on the rear surface. By adopting such a mechanism, the terminals on the front surface can be connected to the corresponding terminals on the rear surface in the probe card. Patent Document No. 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-222839
Patent Document No. 2: WO 2003/062837
A general probe card is formed using a print substrate or the like (e.g., see Patent Document No. 2). By forming a plurality of probe pins on the print substrate, the probe card can be collectively electrically connected to a plurality of semiconductor chips.
However, a semiconductor wafer has a different thermal expansion coefficient than that of a print substrate. Therefore, when the temperature fluctuates in such occasions as when the heat is generated by semiconductor chips during a test, and in a heat test or in a cooling test of the semiconductor chips, there sometimes happens that the electrically connection between the semiconductor chip and the probe card is removed. Such a problem will be more noticeable when a test involves semiconductor chips formed on a semiconductor wafer having a large area.